Poll

Opinion

From the point of view of a casual observer and a taxpayer of the situation surrounding the firing of the school Superintendent Todd Lancaster, it appears the tail is wagging the dog. If the teachers (and I assume their union) have the power to control the school board, we, the taxpayers, and the schoolchildren are losers.

The news of Maya Angelou’s passing reverberated through me. Though not a big woman, she stood tall among modern American writers and poets, giving voice to those repressed and underprivileged.

Her aptly titled classic work “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” resonated within me as a closeted gay man despite it being an African-American woman’s story. Cages and closets, after all, share the commonality of potentially being virtual prisons.

After longtime, nationally recognized Jeffco superintendent Cindy Stevenson, facing the reality of a painful conclusion to her tenure, resigned in disgust over the shenanigans taking place in Jeffco, a national hunt for a new person to take the helm was announced.

The standard protocol is for a screening group of all stakeholders to winnow the field to nominate three or four to be given to the board for consideration. I participated in such a process twice, once as a private citizen and the other time when I served on the Clear Creek Board of Education.

Thank you for the very nice article regarding the 9Health Fair. This year we had another very successful fair on Saturday, April 26, in Idaho Springs. We served 216 participants.

I would like to add that the success of the fair is due to hard work by a number of volunteers, and to the help of local businesses and professionals. I would like to take the opportunity to publicly thank everyone involved.

I was recently invited and privileged to attend the Clear Creek Veterans Coalition meeting, and I walked away impressed and amazed by what was happening, not only in the room but also beyond in initiatives the group has undertaken in its short history.

First, I was instantly corrected by several for stating while introducing myself that I was likely the only non-veteran in the room.

Honor our peace officer
Editor:
In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week.
Established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law-enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.

In the past six months, the universe of Obamacare has changed as rapidly, it seems, as the universe did six months after the Big Bang. Once on life support and given last rites by ministers of the political right, Obamacare has rebounded, much to Republicans’ chagrin. Democrats should only hope Republicans make it their central issue in the fall campaign; that is, if they’re willing to trumpet its success.

I was saddened by the article on the Peaks to Plains Trail. No credit was given to the volunteers on the Clear Creek Open Space Commission, who were the principal players in bringing this project to fruition.

After years of negotiations, the land was purchased with Open Space funds. Hundreds of volunteer hours were spent in grant writing and meetings with the Colorado Department of Transportation and landowners.

The rec center renovation, which 51 percent of the voters approved for $7 million, is over budget at almost $9 million. Now it has magically shaved off $2,270,000 with some redesign, cuts and lots of changes in “stuff.” In my professional opinion, the new plans are inefficiently designed, with a lot of wasted space. I pointed out how that could be improved at a recent rec district board meeting. I was blown off with lip service and rationalizations.

If we’re to move forward to develop an economy that allows for the potential of every American to be successful, it’s imperative to move away from the either-or dichotomy of looking at capitalism: Either one has blind faith and is a fervent believer in it, or one is considered a socialist. That notion is nonsense on several levels, but suffice to say those who profess that are being simplistic.

I’m no union guy. I think the unions have generally outlived their usefulness in our country, and that’s why only about 11 percent of American workers are union members, compared to nearly one-third in the early ’70s. Today the majority of union members are employees in the public sector, where the relationship between employer and employee has always been more contractual than relational.

On April 20, 2014, members of the Greek Orthodox Church will celebrate Easter, coinciding with the date for Western-rite Christians. On April 20, 1914, 100 years to the day, the Greek Orthodox Church again celebrated its Easter, but for 18 Greek Orthodox women and children of miners in Ludlow, Colo., that Easter Sunday was a day not of resurrection but of death, huddled together dying of smoke inhalation from fires set by goon squads sent by coal magnates and the Colorado militia, which operated at their behest.

They’re rounding the final turn and headed for the home stretch as your 69th Colorado General Assembly begins to wrap things up. Because of the limits in our constitution, the legislature must adjourn by May 7, just five weeks from today.

The House passed the 2014-15 state budget last week, and the Senate will complete its version by Friday. They should be able to resolve any differences by next week, and we’ll be in the mad dash to the finish line.

Woe is us: The mine is closing. I moved to Clear Creek County in 1986, and this is one of the first things I heard. Well, the mine hasn’t closed yet, and when I was talking with a mine official last year, he estimated they could probably keep operating for 10 to 20 more years. He said they are continuing to do exploratory drilling, which may extend the life of the mine.

There is nothing wrong with changing one’s mind, especially when confronted with new information. In fact, it’s a virtue; intellectual honesty requires it.

Long-entrenched thinking takes time to “evolve,” as Presidents Obama’s has on same-sex marriage. On that, he’s far from alone; millions of Americans have moved to support the principle, a vast change from homophobic days when a mad rush cluttered state constitutions with amendments defining marriage as between opposite-sex couples.

The board of directors of the Mill Creek Valley Historical Society wish to thank everyone who attended our first Mardi Gras fund-raiser.

Special thank-yous go out to Raymond Griffin of the Lost Cajun in Frisco, Scott Yard of Smokin Yard’s BBQ, Marianne Bohannon, Bonnie Hunt, Tommyknocker Brewery and also Mardi Gras Casino for beads and buffet passes for our drawings.

The I-70 corridor is a mess on a few days — less than 40 out of 365 days of the year.

That’s about 10 percent of the time, and even that is overstating the case because on those days, the congestion is limited to usually no more than six hours, or one-fourth of the day. One-fourth of 10 percent is 2.5 percent. That’s it for the entire year.